What a crazy “The Mindy Project” this week! Don’t get me wrong, I still laughed plenty, but there was a ridiculous premise and a weird vibe about it.
We see Mindy listening to “Les Misérables,” specifically “I Dreamed a Dream,” while trying to get over her breakup with Casey. She throws his things in a dumpster—is that really necessary?—except for a photo-booth series of pictures of the two of them that includes the obligatory “Charlie’s Angels” pose.
On her way to work, trying not to look up because of the rain, she trips over several boxes the mailman left on the doorstep. She goes to sue the owner of the box she tripped over, a lawyer named Cliff Gilbert (Glenn Howerton, who looks like Seth Myers)—and thus we have the meet cute for Mindy’s next boyfriend.
I know, I’m jumping the gun, but it seems clear he’s the newest Mr. Darcy to get between Mindy and the original Darcy, Danny Castellano. Hey. Darcy. Danny Castellano. D. C. Hmm … hadn’t thought of that before. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional on the creators’ part, but it’s something to think about.
BTW, I loved that there were two references to musical theatre in the cold open: her listening to Les Miz, of course, and her mentioning that she saw the musical “Legally Blonde.”
At work, Jeremy reveals the new name and new sign for the practice—making a huge leap that Mindy would be taking Casey’s name once they got married—and in the process forcing Mindy to reveal that she and Casey had instead broken up. She tries to leave work to take a “heartache” day, but Jeremy tells her there’s no such thing and forces her to stay.
Dr. Peter Prentice is also back with some odd side story about trying to be one of the guys and touching Danny’s “junk” (accidentally or intentionally). Presumably, he’ll be a regular part of the practice now, and therefore the show, which is unfortunate because I don’t love him so far. I’m not sure yet what they’re trying to do with him, and his character is a little too similar to Max on “Happy Endings.”
Later that evening, Mindy deals with heartache the way many a hot-blooded woman might, I suppose: by getting drunk. And having a conversation with the photo-booth pictures of she and Casey. Is that a wink to the brilliant French film “Amélie”?
Morgan interrupts her pity party, and in her drunken stupor, Mindy begins to think that what he told her earlier could be true. Morgan had told her that his exes end up marrying the person they meet after him, just like the premise of the film “Good Luck Chuck.”
She begs him to sleep with her so his magic will work on her and she can get over Casey, and, of course, he agrees (though not after wrapping her up in a pizza box). Fortunately though, she sobers up and realizes what she’s about to do, and throws Morgan out of her apartment.
The next day, Lawyer Cliff calls Mindy, who immediately assumes that he’s calling to ask her out. Who does that? Not that he wouldn’t want to necessarily, and they clearly will eventually, but who would assume such a thing? Incidentally, Mindy sure gets a lot of action. It’s also been commented on that she seems to exclusively date white men. It’ll be curious to see if that changes in the future.
Anyway, Cliff calls because Morgan decides to sue Mindy for sexual harassment. All is well, though, as Morgan agrees to drop the case if Mindy takes him on a date, which Danny, Jeremy, and Peter (why Peter?) go to her apartment to convince her to do. Danny, who clearly cares for her, insists she needs to get out of the house for a while (and that’s all the Danny action for this episode).
It was sweet, but the date itself was strange. I don’t fully understand what they were trying to do there. I think Mindy and Morgan are friends, to some degree at least, and he hasn’t been interested in her in any deeper level, so I didn’t understand why the date was so awkward. Clearly, that was the comedy they were going for.
Eventually, Morgan takes Mindy to his favorite place (“This is a real place,” Mindy says with surprise), a quarry where he can hear his echo. After they shout into the abyss a couple times, he helps Mindy get over her heartbreak, and explains that she just needs to let it happen and not rush it. She’ll probably be fine again by next episode.
Some of my favorite lines this episode:
“She just got engaged to an engineer. Not the choo-choo kind, the rich kind.”—Morgan
“Hey Morgan, I’m really searching for the passion to continue my interest in this conversation, but I’m very sad, so I’m going to go eat my snack.”—Mindy
“I fear the ocean out of respect.”—Danny
“Do I occasionally think about you in your yoga pants? Constantly.”—Morgan
“I would teach you guys my secret handshake but then I’d have to touch your junk again.”—Peter
“What are you, the Lorax?—Mindy, to Morgan
“If you let me have heartache days, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”—Mindy
“Why did it get weird when I said that?”—Peter
“Two different women faked their own deaths to get away from me.”—Morgan
So what were your favorite lines, Mindy fans? How soon before Mindy and Lawyer Cliff hook up? Do you think Dr. Prentice is here to stay, and are you happy about it? Sound off below about “The Mindy Project”!
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